Keywords

Holiness to the Lord, personal temple worship, temples

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Over thirty years ago, I embarked on a three-day excursion into the Sinai Peninsula and the traditional site of Mount Sinai. This mountain is in the middle of a mountainous desert, miles from anywhere. We arrived there in the early evening and had dinner in a Bedouin camp and then bunked down in some tents, waiting for 3:00 a.m. to arrive. That is when we were to make the 2,500-foot ascent, because our leaders said that it would be much too hot if we waited until the sun came up. Somewhere along the line, I ended up being the one who carried a huge first aid kit up the mountain. It was hard work climbing that mountain, especially with the extra weight of that pack. It took us about two hours, and toward the end I was not even sure that it was worth continuing on—after all, I was up pretty high and I had a pretty good view of things from where I was. Why not just watch the sunrise from where I was? Besides, I was not sure that my legs would carry me another step. But somehow I kept telling myself that I had come this far, I may as well finish it out.